Data transfer is fast approaching ultimate capacity limits for single mode optical fiber transmission systems. The use of multicore optical fibers has emerged as one solution which enables further growth in the capacity of optical fibers. Multicore optical fibers permit parallel transmission using space-division multiplexing. Multicore optical fibers increase transmission capacity by N-fold, where “N” is the number of cores in the multicore optical fiber. Particularly for short distance networks, space-division multiplexing through multicore optical fibers is a method well-suited for increasing bandwidth density.
One current method for producing multicore optical fibers includes positioning glass core canes in soot blanks, then consolidating the soot blanks and glass core canes to form glass preforms. The preforms are drawn to make optical fibers. However, when preforms are made this way, flaws are frequently present near the glass core cane surface following consolidation of the preform, limiting the quality of multicore fibers produced using such methods.